ONPA 2025 Monthly Clip Contest Results
January – 1st place General News
Arabella Clark, a sixth grade student in Mrs. Elizabeth Barrow’s classroom at Claymont Middle School in Uhrichsville, watches and listens as astronauts Don Pettit and Barry “Butch” Wilmore aboard the International Space Station answer questions live during NASA Space Station Crew Talk. Students from around the nation submitted pre-recorded questions. Two students from Claymont Middle School were selected to be answered. (Andrew Dolph / The Times Reporter)
Results & Rules
January 2025 clip contest results
Spot News
1st – Andrew Dolph, The Times Reporter, “Rescued Cat”
Judge’s comments: While it’s the only spot news entry, its worthy of a prize. The photographer makes up for the lack of flames in the photo with compelling moment away from the house fire.
General News
1st – Andrew Dolph, The Times Reporter, “Crew Talk”
2nd – Kurt Steiss, The Blade, “Polar Bear Plunge”
3rd – Jeremy Wadsworth, The Blade, “Skate”
HM – Kurt Steiss, The Blade, “Training”
Judge’s comments: First – Great use of light. It’s also the best composed photo of the category. In other situations, including the screen might be slightly distracting to the viewer. Paired with the expression on the subject’s face, it adds to the sense of curiosity and wonder. “You never know what you can do.” Good context in the cutline. Second – the event is a unique opportunity to photograph. The photo could’ve benefitted from more reaction to the seemingly frigid water. I would be interested to see more photos from the sequence. Overall, executed well. Third – A nice moment. The photo could’ve benefitted by the photographer getting closer to the subject or a tighter crop. HM – The photographer deserves mention for their anticipation and ability to capture the moment the casing is expelled from the rifle. It’s clear thought when into capturing the image.
Feature
1st – Jeremy Wadsworth, The Blade, “Splash”
2nd – Jonathan Aguilar, The Blade, “Mardi Gras”
3rd – Jeremy Wadsworth, The Blade, “Ice Fishing”
HM – Andrew Dolph, The Times Reporter, “Wolf Moon”
Judge’s comments: First – Technically sound frame. Could’ve benefitted from the horizon being straightened. Nice emotion and layering of the faces. 2nd – Really nice moment. Third – The layering of the photo takes the viewer almost through the entire process of ice fishing preparation. HM – The silhouetted lifts are a unique image.
Sports Action
1st – Jeff Lange, Akron Beacon Journal, “Takedown
2nd – Jeff Lange, Akron Beacon Journal, “Choke”
3rd – Jeff Lange, Akron Beacon Journal, “Ball Fight”
HM – Jeff Lange, Akron Beacon Journal, “American Wrestling”
HM – Andrew Dolph, The Times Reporter, “Wrestling”
Judge’s comments: First – As far as peak action, this image stood out among all the basketball submissions. The photographer’s decision to go with a vertical crop led to a pretty clean background. Second – The bright blue mouth guard leads the viewers eye right to the grimace in the face of thewrestler. At 10000 ISO, I think the image suffers from some softness. Third – Among the basketball images submitted, this stands out. The image shows a lot of struggle in the faces of the athletes. HM – The lighting in the photo is beautiful. The display of sportsmanship is well captured. This image would’ve faired better up against the sports feature category. HM – Unique composition, but little action.
Sports Feature
1st- Erik Schelkun, Elsestar Images, “Buzzer Beater”
2nd – Rebecca Benson, The Blade, “Distraction”
3rd – Erik Schelkun, Elsestar Images, “Red Scare”
HM – Rebecca Benson, The Blade, “Celebration”
Judge’s comments: First – It’s difficult to get a clear view of this many players in a celebration shot. There’s a lot of eally nice expressions. Could’ve benefitted from better white balance, more information in the cutline and being slightly wider. Second – Credit to the photographer for looking beyond the action on the court. The result was a fun, silly moment. Third – Nicely composed photo. Suffers from the same issues as the first place photo. HM – Really like the focus here and layering. It’s not as clean of a composition as the first place image.
Portrait
1st – Jeremy Wadsworth, The Blade, “Leroy Bates”
2nd – Andrew Dolph, The Times Reporter, “Cy Young Home”
3rd – Kurt Steiss, The Blade, “Art Tatum”
Judge’s comments: First – It’s the cleanest composition among images submitted. The light is really nice and it provides the necessary context for who the subject is. Second – Really close second place here. The bright windows in the backgrounds are slightly distracting and lead the viewer away from the subject. Nice light and shallow depth of field. Third – The expression on the subject’s face shows a lot of character.
Story
No entries
Judged by Isaac Ritchey (MLive.com / Grand Rapids Press)
ONPA Monthly Still Clip Contest Rules
The ONPA monthly clip contest is now entered and judged online. Photos entered into the contest must have been published either in print, or online, on your school or newspaper’s website.
Entry preparation: Make sure all photos are cropped to 10 inches on the longest side at 200 dpi with a .jpg extension. Files should be approximately 1-2 megabytes in size.
File names must start with a two digit category code to designate the category – (01-07), followed by an underscore to give a name of the photo, followed by an underscore, and then the photographer’s three initials. For example: A sports action photo by John J. Smith should read: 04_fumble_jjs.jpg.
A picture story by John J. Smith would be named 07_kids01_jjs.jpg, 07_kids02_jjs.jpg, son and and so forth for stories containing multiple images.
Caption requirements: All photos must contain the original caption in the description or caption field using Photoshop or Photo Mechanic. Your byline should be entered in the author or photographer field. Your publication name or school attended (for student entries) should be entered in the credit field. The publication date is to be placed in the keywords field. Entries without proper content in each of these four fields will be considered incomplete and withdrawn from the contest. Photographers must remove their name and publication from the caption/description field since judges will be able to read this field while judging. That content is to be placed in the author and credit field.
Uploading: To upload files, use the uploader widget on the Clip Contest page on the ONPA website.
Entries will be accepted from the first of the month following publication through midnight on the 15th. After this deadline, the system will be closed until the first of the next month and no further entries will be accepted. Using the online upload tool, multiples can be submitted at one time without zipping by pressing shift or command and clicking on all the files you wish to enter for the month.
Entry Limits: Photographers are limited to nine entries per month. Should a photographer upload more than nine entries, all entries after the first nine will be disregarded. A story counts as one entry. All photos without a proper file name will be disregarded. Once a file is uploaded, it cannot be modified or removed. (Should you have an issue, please reach out to the clip chairs.)
Category Numbers & Definitions:
Spot news: (01) – A single picture of an unscheduled event for which no advanced planning was possible. Examples: res, accidents and natural disasters.
General news: (02) – A single picture of a scheduled political, social or cultural event for which advance planning was possible. An assigned and/or scheduled news event. Examples: Demonstrations, funerals, trials and promotional events.
Feature: (03) – A single human-interest photo.
Sports Action: (04) – A single picture that emphasizes action in competitive events, not practice or informal play.
Sports Feature: (05) – An unposed sports related photo. Sports related portraits should be entered in the portrait category. Examples: Participants or fans reacting to action on the field of play.
Portrait: (06) – A single picture of a person that reveals the essence of the subject’s character. This can be news, sports, or feature in content.
Story: (07) – A photo story, essay or sequence, of any subject matter.
Illustration: (08) – A single created picture, not to be a found situation or portrait. Intended to clarify or dramatize a preconceived idea. This would include illustrations depicting food, fashion, industrial or editorial topics. This category will be judged quarterly but clips must be entered in the month published.
ONPA uses the following structure for awarding points in the Monthly Clip Contest:
50 points for 1st place
40 points for 2nd place
30 points for 3rd place
10 points for HM
2 points just for entering
Questions concerning the contest can be directed to Jeremy Wadsworth or Rebecca Benson.
2025 Clip Contest Point Standings
1st – Jeremy Wadsworth, The Blade – 162
– Andrew Dolph, The Times Reporter – 162
3rd – Jeff Lange, Akron Beacon Journal – 132
4th – Kurt Steiss, The Blade – 82
– Erik Schelkun, Elsestar Images – 82
6th – Rebecca Benson, The Blade – 52
7th – Jonathan Aguilar, The Blade – 42
Clip Photographers of the Year
Click on the year to view all results from that year